The Act Party leader laid out his ideas for New Zealand.
School attendance rates present a “far bigger” long-term crisis for New Zealand than Covid-19, Act Party leader David Seymour argued at a public meeting in Tauranga last night.
More than 300 people turned out for Seymour’s final pre-election rally in the area, held at Mount Maunganui’s Classic Flyers Aviation Museum.
Ahead of the meeting, Seymour donned Ray-Bans, a hairnet and a weathered aviation helmet for a short flight over the city in a classic Boeing-Stearman biplane.
It gave him an opportunity for a dramatic entrance as the plane landed in view of the waiting crowd just as Bay of Plenty candidate Cameron Luxton finished introducing him, alongside Tauranga candidate Christine Young.
Seymour apologised for being a few minutes late and joked Air New Zealand had become “quite expensive” and “often delayed”.
The meeting came as the latest 1News Verian poll put Act down two points to 10 per cent and suggested National would also need NZ First to form a government.
Act Party leader David Seymour took flight in a classic Boeing-Stearman biplane at the Classic Flyers Aviation Museum in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday. Photo / Alex Cairns
Seymour steered clear of the polls in his speech, which covered issues ranging from education to racial divisions, and was frequently interrupted by applause.
He said fewer children were going to school and called for daily reporting on attendance.
“When the Government said Covid was a crisis, we got daily data to create a national focus. I would argue 100,000 kids who are not regularly attending school is a far bigger crisis for our long-term future than Covid will ever be.”
Seymour said children needed to be tested on whether “they can hold a pencil” before going to primary school, despite “hundreds of millions of dollars” of early childhood education subsidies.
“When I talk to primary school principals, they invariably say that kids are less prepared to come to school than ever before.”
Seymour said NCEA, Cambridge and International Baccalaureate should be funded equally.
“People say International Baccalaureate doesn’t uphold the Treaty. Well, guess what, that’s not every 15-year-old’s duty. They’re supposed to be getting informed and knowledgable so that they can have a productive life,” he said.
Seymour said graduates needed to have a high-paid, “interesting” job without leaving New Zealand.
“Too many young people are asking the question and the answer is no, so they’re off.”
Act Party leader David Seymour at a public meeting at the Classic Flyers Aviation Museum in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Alex Cairns
Seymour said Government rules, regulations and “red tape” needed to be changed to allow businesses to flourish and young people to build their own homes more easily.
On crime, Seymour said the Sentencing Act needed to be changed so prisoners seeking early parole needed to “learn to read, get a driver’s licence and start a trade”.
“We need prisons to go from being universities of crime to primary schools of the basic skills of rehabilitation.”
He said the Government was “relentlessly” dividing people by race, which was “morally” wrong and had “no basis in our Treaty”.
More than 300 people attended Act Party leader David Seymour's public meeting at the Classic Flyers Aviation Museum in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday. Photo / Alex Cairns
Seymour said dividing people by race was “divisive” and “ineffective” and public services needed to be delivered based on need.
“I’m part-Māori and I don’t need extra help with healthcare … Many Māori people don’t.”
Seymour said other factors affected someone’s health rather than ethnicity, such as income.
He said the next Parliament needed to “legislate what the principles of the Treaty are”.
“The Crown has the right to govern, all people are equal before the law, people have the right to their property, to self-determine, to live as they want to live so long as they’re not harming others.
“I think that those chiefs — if they were around today — would be voting Act,” Seymour said.
Image 1 of 7: Act Party leader David Seymour takes flight in a classic Boeing stearman bi-plane at the Classic Flyers Aviation Museum in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Alex Cairns
Seymour said children born today needed a “world-class” education, a “productive” economy, a housing market where “anyone who applies themselves can achieve the Kiwi dream” and to feel safe walking from their house to the dairy.
“If we can get those things right, then I think the future of a child born in New Zealand today is very bright.”
A member of the audience told Seymour she was the mother of a child with Tourette’s syndrome and said the Government did not recognise this as a disability.
This meant at school, her child did not have access to a teacher aide who could help him write. She asked Seymour if he would consider it as a disability.
Seymour said more children were starting school with more complex and challenging needs.
“I don’t believe in me deciding exactly which conditions count as a disability … but certainly, I’d be open to asking the simple question. What is the consequence for this kid’s learning and for the kids around him? Will it be a good investment of money to apply all this funding?”
Another audience member said he believed there would be an Act-National government after the election and asked what Seymour’s priorities were.
Seymour said the first thing was to “cut the huge amount of Government waste”, and the second was getting on top of “red tape and regulations” by getting a Minister of Regulation and a Regulatory Standards Act.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
